Alamo Bowl Thoughts

Perhaps I am getting caught in that age-old trap of looking forward to next season after a bowl victory, but wasn't Daryll Clark a bright spot???

Not only did he seem to spark the offense when he came onto the field, but he gained positive yardage when he touched the ball.

What I didn't understand is why Morelli shifted to wide out, ala Zack Mills when Robinson came in the game back in 2004?

Even Flutie questioned this play, despite the fact that Morelli made a good block one of the times they ran it.

So let's ask ourselves, the question WHY?

If the answer is that you expect Morelli to catch a pass, then you are shooting yourself in the foot by only playing the equivalent of 10 guys on the play. You can't seriously expect Morelli to do a better job than any of the other receivers on our squad. Moreover, despite running this play a number of times in this formation, we never even threatened to throw the ball Morelli's direction let alone actually trying it. (We never threw out of this formation.) If this is the reason he was in, we'd have been better off benching him and playing a wide receiver that was a legitimate threat to catch the ball.

If the answer is that you expect Morelli to throw a block, then I suppose the play was a success, at least once. But why expect Morelli to throw a block? You don't see the Patriots putting Tom Brady out as a receiver? Or Big Ben in Pittsburgh? That is not to say that QBs never throw blocks--they do, but it is often on a reversed field play and most coordinators aren't counting on that block to make the play work. If Morelli is truly the man you expect to lead the team to victory, why risk his injury on a play that dozen other guys could make just as well, if not better? (Whether Morelli getting hurt is a good thing or bad thing for the team is another issue altogether, and I don't have time to get into that now.)

If you think that Clark might lateral to Morelli, who would then throw a pass, then you are a seriously deluded individual. Since Morelli is not a deep threat, you will see the corner up on him at the time of the snap. Any lateral to Morelli is more than likely going to be broken up at best, and pick-sixed at worse. Moreover, if you actually do get the ball out to him, is it really going to fool the defense that he isn't going to throw? He's a quarterback for crying out loud. If they see a lateral to him, they are going to expect a pass. He's not a very good runner, so again, you'd be better off putting Williams in this scenario, which would at least have the advantages of making the corner honest, and giving Williams a legitimate run-pass option that Morelli really wouldn't have.

So if we don't expect Morelli to throw a pass from there, run from there, or really participate in the play other than throwing a block, it begs the question why leave him in there?

In my mind, you formation is a 10 man equivalent and a disadvantage. Yet, even with that conclusion, the play gained positive yardage every time.